


Leather Brown Diaries

by arsistiel



Series: Flufftober [17]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrities, Alternate Universe - Fans & Fandom, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Alternate Universe - Singers, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Best Friends, Celebrity AU, Couch Cuddles, Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Feels, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Good Parent Maryse Lightwood, Guitarist Alec Lightwood, Happy Ending, Happy Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Jealous Magnus Bane, Jealousy, Kinda, M/M, Morning Cuddles, Morning Kisses, Musical Duo, OTP Feels, Protective Magnus Bane, Sharing a Bed, Singer Magnus Bane, Sleepy Cuddles, Slow Burn, Social Media, Supportive Siblings, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, idiots to lovers, oblivious idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:06:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27080050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arsistiel/pseuds/arsistiel
Summary: Alec and Magnus are a well-known musical duo, 'A Cat With an Arrow'. And no, they both totally don't have feelings for each other and no, that one lyric which Alec wrote in their new song is totally not about Magnus. Their fans have it all wrong... totally.[Flufftober Day 17, Sharing a Bed] [Part 2 of 2 of The Cat With an Arrow series]
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Andrew Underhill, Alec Lightwood & Isabelle Lightwood, Alec Lightwood & Isabelle Lightwood & Jace Wayland, Alec Lightwood & Jace Wayland, Alec Lightwood & Maryse Lightwood, Lorenzo Rey/Andrew Underhill, Magnus Bane & Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane & Isabelle Lightwood, Magnus Bane & Jace Wayland, Magnus Bane & Maryse Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, mentioned
Series: Flufftober [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945453
Comments: 16
Kudos: 194





	Leather Brown Diaries

When Magnus first met Alec, 4 years ago, Alec had been shy and awkward. He was too worried that maybe he’ll mess this meet of theirs up. Whereas on the other hand, Magnus was mesmerized by those hazel eyes of Alec’s. It’s one of the things he loves about him. 

Magnus internally cringes when that word pops up in his head. _Love_. 

To Magnus, that word had always felt too strong, too heavy, too meaningful. It isn’t something he says often, because he fears that if he did, he won’t be able to carry the weight of it. But yet, whenever he _thinks_ about it, it feels so light. 

Wherever he joins the word with Alec, _it feels so light._

Magnus never has conversations like these with himself during the daytime. These internal thought processes are meant for his night-time brain to think and then disregard in the morning with a ‘that was stupid’ attached to them. Though these conversations resurface when the nightfall comes around again, he thinks of them and disregards them the next day and the cycle continues.

However, Magnus knows these conversations keep piling up, night by night, and it has been happening for the past few months - maybe even years, since the day he met Alec. He just always feels too exhausted to sort them out, everytime. Or maybe he doesn’t want to sort them out, because doing so won't do him any good, anyways. 

Magnus feels the pads of Alec’s fingers gently brushing against his cheek as he tucks Magnus’ hair behind his ear. Alec lingers there, against Magnus’ skin. He wonders if Alec knows that Magnus is still awake or not. 

A shiver runs down Magnus’ spine. He is suddenly pulled back to a memory of his, back to the first time Alec had ever done that; It was mid-October, a few weeks after Alec had moved in with Magnus. Magnus was out on a date with someone, he can’t quite remember who, and he had come back to the soft strumming of guitar and a faint humming of a melody he hadn’t heard before. But it was actually beautiful. 

When Magnus followed the strumming, he found himself in Alec’s bedroom and was met with the sight of Alec sitting on the edge of the bed, one leg tucked under while the other hung off from the edge, carefully strumming the strings of the guitar in his hand as he looked down at the diary kept in front of him on the bed and hummed with each strum.

 _It sounds good_ , Magnus had said, walking closer to Alec. _Did you write it?_

Alec flinched a little at the noise, reaching forward to close his diary as an instinct, but didn’t. When Magnus slowly came to sit besides him, Alec’s cheeks tinted a light shade of pink, _I did, yes_

Magnus nodded, then slightly peaked in Alec’s diary. _‘Do the stars twinkle, or do they wink? In the sky together, but never in sync…’_ Magnus couldn’t help but sing the words on the paper, following the melody he had just heard. 

Alec looked up at him, eyes amused, _You have a beautiful voice_

 _Thank you_ , Magnus replied, looking back in Alec’s hazel brown eyes, _You have a beautiful way with words_. He then said, reading the rest of the verse, scribbled on the paper in a hurried handwriting.

 _Thank you._ Said Alec, cheeks tinting pink again.

 _Alexander, would you mind…_ Magnus asked after a few beats, _if I sit here for a moment, just listening?_

Alec’s tongue darted out, licking his bottom lip _._ Eyes flicking all over Magnus’ face. _Sure_ , he said, and then, his arm was reaching out to caress a small strand of Magnus’ hair away from his forehead. Alec quickly retreated his hand back in just a second. _I, um… you can sing along too, if you want_

They had sung together until they were both dizzy with sleep that night. And Magnus might not remember who he had had a date with that night, but he surely remembered having more fun with Alec, than he must’ve had at a boring restaurant. 

Alec shuffles on the bed and then finally lays down, turning off the lamp and turning his back on to Magnus. A voice in Magnus’ head is telling him to scoot in closer to embrace Alec in his arms. It’s not like they haven’t done that before, they have woken up in each other’s arms more times then they will care to admit. Hell, they are usually sprawled on the couch together while watching movies every weekend. But, that’s just Magnus placing his head on Alec’s chest or shoulder, or in the other case, it happens when they are both asleep, somewhere between the night. 

So Magnus turns his back on Alec himself, knowing that his urge to get closer to Alec will keep increasing with every passing minute. This is how it usually is when they are in one bed together and Magnus can’t sleep while Alec is in his slumber, which Magnus knows Alec is already in, considering the small snores that the guy is releasing. 

After a few minutes of tossing and turning, Magnus decides to give up. He can’t keep up with his thoughts anymore. So, he grabs his phone from the nightstand again and opens up Twitter to sort out a few questions for tomorrow. But, his twitter is opened up to his spam account and the first tweet that he sees on his timeline is a picture of Alec from the story Magnus had just posted

**Alec marry me challenge @Registiel**

Keeping aside the fact that this shit is domestic asf. How does Alec Lightwood look so good #*(!&@^%!*??# that too at night ???!!$&^#^ Everybody stfu i’m trying to manifest him to be my husband.

Of course they all are freaking out over the story, _expected_. And just like that, Magnus is scrolling through his timeline again which is very much active, at the moment.

**Drimmy loves Magnus on the shore. @Drimmyyyy**

The way Alec’s sitting with the covers over him as if he’s ready to sleep and the way the picture’s taken from a low angle indicating that Magnus is already laying down on the bed. Boyfriends are spending the night together in that bed GOODBYE.

**Kaelie has their clown paint on @magnusesjeans**

@Drimmyyy you know how Magnus likes to tease us before every video? Like before the Man on the Shore vid he posted a story of rainbow and pink, purple, blue confetti? Listen- just, hear me out-

Magnus doesn’t read the rest of that, knowing that it’s just yet another useless theory. What really amuses him is the way they are now calling the song ‘The Man on the Shore’ even though it’s actually titled ‘Monochromatic’.

**Drula is spamming Magnus || Malec coming out party! @misskeshaaa**

@banesmagic , In addition to my previous question that I’ve spammed @ you for the hundredth time today; aRE YOU HAVING A SLEEPOVER IN ALEC’S ROOM?

**Mimi @mimislove**

@misskeshaaa Bro the way you’ve seriously tagged him in this tweet-

**Drula is spamming Magnus || Malec coming out party! @misskeshaaa**

@mimislove Bruh idc I’m a clown

**Belphagor rights!!! @assbutted**

@misskeshaaa @mimislove Even if he is, it isn’t that big of a deal. Best Friends sleepover all the time and besides, they are roommates, it’s ought to be normal to spend a night in one room every once in a while.

**Drula is spamming Magnus || Malec coming out party! @misskeshaaa**

@assbutted Okay, user assbutted. 

The Misskesha person’s reply is followed by an eyeroll emoji and Magnus actually rolls his eyes at the ‘best friend’ reply, and when he catches himself doing that, he’s weirded out. The user is right afterall, it’s got to be common for roommates to have sleepovers and stuff… this is what it is, just a small platonic sleepover. Then why does that comment flare something in his chest?

**Arsis is clowning over Malec @arsistiel**

My ass really tried to crop in at Alec’s diary and unpixelate it to check what kind he’s working in. leather cover, nice.

Magnus tries not to snort at the tweet as he clicks at the pictures below it; the cropped in image of Alec’s diary. Magnus notices something now- it’s the one Alec never shows anyone. The one with the brown leather cover. 

**Allie || she/her @Malecskiddo**

@arsistiel 50 dollars say he’s writing a new love song for ThE mAn oN tHe sHorE

Alec did look very into whatever he was writing, but _what was he writing, really?_ Magnus has never really tried to check that diary of Alec’s, knowing that it’s his personal and respecting his privacy. Though that does not mean that Magnus was never curious.

**Simp’s circus @homosaywhat**

Okay, I know most of you are crying over Magnus’ story… But I have a theory (Don’t cancel me for this), what if… the ‘man on the shore’ is… the Underhill guy.

Magnus frowns at that and taps on the picture attached to it; it’s Underhill, Alec’s old friend, and Alec on the shore of a river. They are screenshots from Izzy’s Instagram stories. The first one is Alec and Underhill talking with their feet dipped in the water and the second one is Alec, sitting on a rock beside the river, writing in his diary. The same diary he was writing in just now.

The pictures are from a year ago. Alec, Jace, Izzy were gone on a Lightwood camping trip, which Magnus was unable to join, and had met Underhill and Lorenzo (Who is also Underhill’s friend) there. Underhill and Lorenzo went to the same university as Alec and Izzy, so it had been some sort of reunion, and they had then camped together. Alec wasn’t able to call Magnus at the time, it being a forest where the network connections were poor, but he had come back home and had told Magnus all about it. About Underhill, and how ‘fun’ he was. 

Later on, Alec mentioned Underhill here and there on his twitter or in a few of their bts videos. It had raised a little suspicion, of course, but nothing major. That was until now, apparently. 

The tweet is a thread, followed by 

**Simp’s circus @homosaywhat**

After this, we did see Underhill and Alec hang out at coffee shops and Alec used to talk about Underhill alot too in the bts vids. But then he gradually stopped. Also, this is kind of unrelated,,, i think,,, but the diary that Alec’s writing in is the one he was writing in today in Magnus’ story.

The tweet thread is met with a lot of people attacking the user and disregarding the theory completely, some passive-aggressive. 

**Alec marry me challenge @Registiel**

@homosaywhat User homosaywhat. The Man on the Shore is either me or Magnus. Stfu :D

**Allie || she/her @Malecskiddo**

@homosaywhat A whole lot of bs, me says. And isn’t Underhill hetero? Those blonde curls are a straight vibe for me. No thank you.

**Eva :) @evieinthegarden**

@homosaywhat @Malecskiddo bitch. what Allie said^^^

The thing is, actually, Underhill is as interested in girls as Alec. And like some others replying under it, Magnus is considering the tweet too. 

After the camping trip, Jace had told Magnus that Underhill spent the night in Alec’s tent because his tent had a huge tear in it, which Alec (or Izzy, that traitor) hadn’t told Magnus about before. Also, for all Magnus knew, Underhill and Alec used to be _very_ close in college, but they drifted away after graduation. Jace said that he suspected that they were dating or something, but then again, the blonde was as oblivious as a Minion.

Eitherway, Magnus never talked or asked Alec about Underhill. Maybe they did date, maybe they had a one night stand that camping night and tried to work things out again but it didn’t go well...Not that Magnus had put much thinking to it. Why would he?

It was just another thought in his pile of thoughts… 

Magnus locks his phone and keeps it on the night stand again, settling down on the bed on his back. He turns his head and sees Alec, back still facing Magnus, just lying there in peace, chest slowly moving up and down as he breaths. Soft snores escaping his mouth. The feeling is back again, igniting in Magnus’ chest, telling him to come closer to Alec, to hold him. And, Magnus finds himself shifting closer

And he gently reaches beneath Alec’s pillow to pull his diary out.

Magnus hesitates for a minute, fighting his brain. He shouldn’t, he has never before, but he doesn’t want to stop. Maybe just a look, just a peak, and nothing more. He will just take a peak in and will stop.

There is a little light coming in from the curtains, enough for him to be able to read. When he slides the diary out of the pillow, Alec shuffles a little, but goes back still again. The diary feels soft in Magnus' hand, it’s cover is well kept and smooth. Magnus turns it over to its opening side and takes a deep breath in as his fingers move along the edge of the cover. Then, he slowly flips it over to the first page.

_And I say_

_‘hey there, pretty brown eyes_

_What are you doing, later tonight?_

_Mind if I spent time with you?_

Magnus closes his eyes and doesn’t read further, only flipping through. The diary is pretty thick and Magnus is sure Alec has had it since the time they first met. It’s almost filled till the end, words full of love scribbled on the pages but never mentioning for who, It’s always just ‘he’ ‘him’ ‘his’ ‘the man’. Some pages are all empty with small quotes, or phrases in the middle.

_“A leaf crunches under our feet, as we walk over to the yellow tree”_

_“He fixes my hair as the breeze running by waves hi”_

_“Cotton like snowflakes crown his head, as he shivers, his hands in my pockets”_

_“The sun disagrees with the man’s ice cream. The ball of fire smiles, as the man pouts”_

With every flip of a page, with every soft crinkling sound that the pages make, Magnus’ heart clenches in his chest. He doesn’t read all of the poems, just skims through but there are a few lines that catch his eyes. He could feel that pile of thoughts in his head start to waverer, threatening to fall. 

He’s reaching the end of the diary, there’s a tightness that starts from his chest and reaches his throat. His nerves feel weak. He’s mad. _And why is he feeling these things?_ Maybe because Alec never had the liberty to tell Magnus, who he calls his best friend, about this… person.

He flips over and his gaze catches and freezes for a bit,

_The man on the shore_

_Skin gleaming as the sun pours,_

_Everyone’s warm in their corner_

_While I think about him, feeling cold._

Again, he decides not to read further. He purses his lips and with another deep breath, closes the diary. He shouldn’t have read it in the first place. He doesn’t know how to feel about this, but he’s certainly not going to talk about it with Alec. 

He is sliding the diary back under Alec’s pillows, while making a mental note to remove all the questions that mention ‘the man on the shore’ from the QnA. He can’t ask Alec, Alec isn’t going to answer anyways.

Those words on the paper are just love and adoration. They are strong and promising, the kind which with one glance will tell you that who they are written for, is extremely special. Magnus doesn’t know who that ‘special’ man in Alec’s life is. But something inside of him does not want to know either.

It is when he’s retrieving his hand from underneath Alec’s pillow that the other boy turns on his back, and his hazel eyes are looking up at Magnus, frowning. “Magnus?”

Magnus' mouth opens slightly, and suddenly, he is frozen on the spot. His hand is still under Alec’s pillow. 

When the sun falls on Magnus’ skin during it sets, Magnus’ caramel skin gleams gold and his brown eyes, always gentle and kind, shine. It’s a beautiful sight, Magnus watching the sunset. It always makes Alec’s heart flop.

Something like that is happening right now, Magnus is looking at Alec with a certain softness in his eyes while the light of the lamp falls on him, making his caramel skin glow. His mouth is pursed in a thin line. If they weren’t in the situation that they are in at this moment, Alec is so sure he would’ve taken a picture of him.

Magnus had just answered Alec’s question with a nod. _Magnus, did you read my diary?_ And now there is a heavy silence between them. Alec is internally cringing, thinking about everything that is written on pages. Everyone of those familiar little details that Magnus has read now. Alec wants to deny the pages- to say something- but

“Alec,” Magnus says quietly, “who’s The Man?” His voice is calm and genuinely questioning. They both know what Magnus is talking about, and Alec winces at that.

“No one,” Alec replies, “It’s random.” It’s what he always says. It’s his only answer.

_But is it, really?_

“When will you stop lying about that?” Magnus breaths out, his tone is more mocking now.

“I’m not lying,” Alec is staring in Magnus’ eyes. “It’s no one.” A certain kind of irritation is covering Magnus’ eyes when he says those words, Alec notices. “Magnus? Are you… I’m the one who’s supposed to be mad here”

Magnus sighs, his glance drops down to the diary in Alec’s lap again. If he’s here, if they are doing this, he might as well hear the answer. “Who’s the Man on the Shore?” he’s looking back up at Alec now, his eyes are soft and his tone is back to being calm.

Staring into his eyes, everything Alec has ever written in the diary is playing itself in Alec’s head like a melody. He wasn’t lying when he told himself that he took inspiration from his surroundings, from the people he spends time with, from _Magnus_. It had started that way, sure. But now? It’s much more than inspiration.

It’s feelings.

Alec can deny this thought again, he can deny all these intimate words he’s written on the pages of this diary, but it’s the truth. And somewhere in the back of Alec’s mind, he has always known this. Though for him, disregarding has just always been better than accepting.

But what’s the point of refusing now, really? Magnus is right infront him, looking at him. Magnus has read the diary already. Magnus knows. And Alec is just hurting himself if he dismisses his feelings, again.

“It’s you,” It comes out as an exhale, barely audible, and it hits Alec when he says it out loud. “It’s you,” he repeats, this time more to himself.

Magnus feels the pile of thoughts in his head falling down and shattering all over the floor. “Alec-”

Alec is biting the inside of his cheek. He closes his eyes for a moment and shrugs, “You wanted me to say it.” 

On the camping trip, after they had bumped into Underhill and Lorenzo and after Underhill and Alec talked for a while. Alec sat alone besides the river, his diary out as he heard the cricket chirps, watching the sunset. Alec had offered to sleep in Izzy’s tent as he gave Underhill his own to spend the night with his fiance, Lorenzo. Jace was inside his tent, probably writing something for his girlfriend, Clary and Izzy took videos and pictures for her boyfriend, Simon. While Alec just sat there.

Izzy had asked him earlier that day something along the lines of- ‘who is the one person you can watch a million sunsets with without getting bored?’ and the only person that came to Alec’s mind was… Magnus. 

So he had taken his pencil out and had started writing. _Inspiration, just inspiration_ , he had thought to himself then too. 

When Alec was rewriting the coming out song, he had tried to look for help from this diary of his. And the one line that fit and felt perfect was this one ‘ _the man on the shore_ ’, well, for him anyways. So he put it in, _surely no one will question it, right?_

“I wanted you to say it?” Magnus swears he has never been this confused, and full of hope at the same time in his life. “Alexander,” he says, “What do you mean?”

Alec’s heart is thrumming in his chest. When he opens his eyes again, he's met with the sight of an amazingly confused Magnus. “You-” he starts, “Did you read the diary?”

“I did, I-” Magnus is stuttering. _Magnus_ is stuttering. 

“Magnus,” Alec cuts him off in between, “who did you think _he_ was?”

Magnus looks up at him, mouth slightly agap. “Underhill.”

“Underhill?” Alec frowns. “You thought I wrote all of this,” he picks up the diary in his hand, “for _Underhill_ ?” he starts to open the diary and flips through the pages. “Magnus, did you even read the dates?” 

“The… what?” Magnus looks at him like a confused cat.

Alec sighs, then slides the diary in front of Magnus and points at the date on the top left corner. It’s the first page, it’s the pretty brown eyes song. _24/09/2016_ “The night I moved in here, when I found you in the balcony because we couldn’t sleep, and then we spent some time together” 

Magnus stares at it. Listening to Alec as he flips keeps flipping over pages, pointing at the dates. 

“When we walk in the central park in the autumn and all the trees there are yellow…” Alec says, as if he’s practiced this. “When you set my hair because the breeze keeps messing it up…” he isn’t looking up at Magnus, his eyes are fixed on the diary as he flips through. “When the snow falls on your head, and you hug me, stuffing your hand in my pockets because you never wear adequate clothes…” Flip. “When every ice cream that you ever eat melts under the sun and drips on your hand…” 

He trails off, because Magnus is lifting his face with two of his fingers underneath his chin. His eyes are glistening, Alec sees then. ”...so, so you pout...”

And then Magnus is moving forward, leaning over the diary and pressing their lips against each other. 

Magnus’ lips are soft against his, there’s a moment when Alec’s heart goes haywire in his chest, but then it calms down as a certain kind of warmth spreads through his body. His brain is hazy, he closes his eyes as he takes this moment in. Magnus’ lips on his. 

They both are smiling when they pull back. Magnus looks down at the diary which is still between and picks it up, “You wrote a diary about me?”

Alec rolls his eyes, though the smile on his face goes nowhere. “Shut up.”

“What?” Magnus playfully tilts his head, hugging the diary close to his chest. “I think that it’s romantic.”

Alec lets out a laugh, tipping his head back. Then suddenly, Magnus is surging forward to grab his t-shirt and kiss him again, placing the diary on the nightnstand. Magnus doesn’t mean for them to fall back onto the mattress with him on top of Alec, though.

“Woah,” Alec lets out against Magnus’ lips.

“Sorry,” Magnus chuckles, not doing anything to move away from Alec.

Alec shakes his head and wraps his arms around Magnus’ waist. He wants to say, ‘it’s okay’ but Magnus is currently over him, smiling in a way his whole face brightens up and “I love you.” Alec says instead.

For a moment, Magnus pulls back and stares down into Alec’s eyes, searching for something. Alec, once again holds his breath. But then Magnus’ heart melts at the truth and softness in Alec’s words. “I love you too,” he replies, cupping Alec’s cheek. And somehow, those words don’t feel heavy anymore.

Magnus wakes up to Alec’s hair tickling his nose. His body is curled along Alec’s. Alec’s back pressed to his bed with their legs tangled. Naked skin against each other.

_“Alexander, wait. Do you think we should take this slow?”_

_“If… If you want too. But I think we’ve taken this slow enough.”_

_“Oh thank god, me too”_

“Good morning,” Alec sleepily lets out when Magnus shuffles a little

“Good morning,” Magnus replies, pressing a kiss on top of Alec’s head and then settling his chin there. “Sleep well?”

Alec hums, slowly turning in Magnus’ arms to face him. “Of course I did”

Magnus gives him a smile, leaning in to kiss him, morning breath be damned.

They talk for a bit, but not anything special. They did all of that last night. They talked about how big of Idiots they were, how they should’ve done this earlier, how they fell in love with each other

_“Somewhere between writing the songs, I thought about you and… I knew I loved you. No matter how much I denied it”_

_“Over the years, I think I kept falling in love with you more and more each day”_

_“Sap.”_

_“You’re the one filling up diaries about me”_

They had slow talks between their kisses. The night went languid and slow. Till they fell asleep in each other’s arms, like they had wanted to do for ages.

“Jesus,” Magnus says as he looks at his phone, “it’s almost 12 pm”

Alec hums again, before locking his arms back around Magnus’ waist and burying his face in the crook of Magnus’ neck. Magnus looks down at him, “Alexander? We have to shoot that QnA video?” It is due to be posted by this weekend.

Alec groans. “Can’t we just have a day in bed?”

He is giving Magnus _that_ look, the one Magnus can’t deny. Besides, they both fell asleep late last night and Magnus isn’t feeling like getting out of bed either. “Okay, but then I have to post an announcement,” he replies, opening his Instagram. Alec shifts away a bit when Magnus does that.

Magnus is just planning on posting a plain text story when an idea pops up in his head. He opens the camera and shifts further in closer to Alec so just their heads are touching. Alec isn’t paying attention though, his face is turned to the other side as he blinks at the morning sunlight coming in from the windows. The selfie is taken so just their faces and necks are visible. Magnus is giving the camera a scrunched face with a pout.

It looks cute, Magnus thinks, as he captions the picture and then elbows Alec.

“What?” Magnus shows Alec his phone screen and Alec smiles, before looking back at Magnus. “You really want to post that?” 

Magnus shrugs. “If you agree.” The picture is decent, but it's definitely enough to raise suspicion. They both are clearly just woken up and are still in bed, hair an absolute mess. Hell, Alec’s sex hair and screaming for people to notice it. It’s going to create chaos, they both know. The caption reads _“Hey, keep the questions for the QnA coming in, it was planned to be filmed today but we made a few adjustments to our schedule. The posting might be a little late too. But hang in there”_

Alec just pecks Magnus on his lips. “I don’t care.”

It’s somewhere around 20 minutes later that Alec’s phone starts to ring, Izzy is facetiming him, making him move out of Magnus’ embrace again.

He doesn’t even get to say ‘what?” when he picks up the call because Izzy is yelling and apparently, Jace and Maryse are already on the call.

“Is Magnus there with you?!” Alec turns to look at Magnus, who just comes in frame and waves at her lazily. “Jesus Christ”

A small “Wow” comes from Maryse while Jace just says, “Man, you guys _really_ finally hooked up”

“What?” Alec finally says, and Magnus is just frowning at them.

“Alec,” Maryse starts, she has her ‘mom’ voice on, “First of all, I’m happy for you both. I’m glad you guys got the guts to talk to each other… And second, why did I got to know about this after Izzy sent me a _screenshot_ of you both.”

“And I got to know about this through Instagram!” Izzy half-yells, “Seriously? Why didn’t you tell us, tell _me_? When did this happen? How-”

“Isabelle, Isabelle,” Magnus interrupts. “What do you mean?”

“What do I-” Izzy looks frustrated, “That story you just posted, the bruises on Alec’s neck”

Alec then realizes that he is holding the camera low enough for his hickies, right above his collar, to be in clear sight. He hurriedly adjusts the camera while Jace releases a low whistle.

“What?” Magnus is opening his phone again to the instagram app to see his story.

He didn’t notice the clear purple marks that were peeking on Alec’s neck inside the frame at the bottom of the picture when he posted it. Almost 12,000 people have watched his story now, so there’s no point in deleting it. But he does it anyways

“Oh fuck,” Alec says as he notices the hickies too in Magnus’ phone screen, before going back to answer his family, who are all basically asking for details.

Magnus shifts further in the bed, opens his Twitter, and goes to his spam account, checking if there is still hope for him to damage control

**Allie || she/her @Malecskiddo**

Y’all Alec??? Has??? bruises??? On??? His neck??? Send??? Help??? Im??? dying???

**Drimmy loves Magnus on the shore. @Drimmyyyy**

@Malecskiddo That too, the size of Texas.

**Crying over Alec’s hickies || Fiona @fifionanan**

@Malecskiddo They just confirmed that they fucked 

**Alec marry me challenge || Magnus’ claimed hickies @Registiel**

I’m going to come out and tell you all- It was ME guys, I put the hickies on Alec’s neck.

**Gabe @Gabrielswhore**

@Registiel omg reggie, are you Magnus?

**Alec marry me challenge || Magnus’ claimed hickies @Registiel**

@Gabrielswhore shhh, don't let the others know

**Belphagor rights!!! @assbutted**

Magnus Bane, The size of those bruises. What kind of an animal are you oh my-

**Drula is spamming Magnus || Malec coming out party! @misskeshaaa**

First the Man on the Shore. Then Alec being a dork and Magnus asking him to bring yogurt like the husband he is. Then that domestic story. Now thESE HICKIES. BRO MY HEART CAN’T HANDLE THEY’RE REAL- IM-

**Eva :) @evieee**

The way we all knew that they were real and yet we’re freaking out over them confirming that they’re really real slskldjlsds I CAN'T

**Ethan cries @magnusseyeliner**

BRUH IT'S JUST BEEN 20 MINUTES TO THE STORY AND THERE IS A TMZ ARTICLE ALREADY HELP

**Samina is asking Malec to NOT @Samamami**

@magunsseyeliner wha? Where? Send link asjkahdkf

**Ethan cries @magnusseyeliner**

**@** Samamami DMed

**Mimi @mimislove**

Fuck dude, he just deleted the story

**Alec marry me challenge || Magnus’ claimed hickies @Registiel**

@mimislove so we just gon pretend that this never happened? BRO I NEED ANSWERS

**Crying over Alec’s hickies || Fiona @fifionanan**

@mimislove sHAUPH, NO NOT THIS ARE THEY GOING TO DENY THAT WHOLE THING? BRO WTF

**Allie || she/her @Malecskiddo**

@mimislove My heart cANNOT. I NEED ANSWERS

**Drula is spamming Magnus || Malec coming out party! @misskeshaaa**

@banesmagic um… What was dis hunny?

The tweet is attached with yet again, the same cropped out pictures of Alec’s half hickies. And Magnus knows that there is no fixing this damage.

“So, what do you guys plan on doing now?” Magnus hears Jace ask and he places his phone down before coming back into the frame.

Alec hesitates, then Maryse says, "Boys, are you serious about _this_?”

They know what she means by ‘this’, Alec gives Magnus a glance, and their eyes meet for a moment. There’s trust and sincerity there. “Yes, we are” Alec answers, and Magnus couldn’t agree more.

Maryse’s ‘mom’ voice quickly changes to her ‘management’ voice, “So, how do you want to do this?” It is obvious that she’ll support them either way, Maryse has been managing them since the start so she’ll find a way to brush the rumors down. But the thing is, there is no point in doing that, and Alec and Magnus both know it- so yes, they can deny it and keep this a secret for now… But would it matter? 

They talked a little about going public, but that was a ‘if’, they were too busy doing other _things_ anyways. Right now Alec is looking at Magnus with a question in his eyes. Magnus knows that Alec wouldn’t mind, given that their fans already treat them like they are together. And if he’s being honest, Magnus doesn’t care either. 

“We’re…” Magnus looks back at Alec, “...going to go Live, in a bit?” It comes out as a question, to which Alec just nods and looks back at his phone.

Izzy’s the one to clap her hands, she’s excited. “Great. Can I post the photo of you both from last year’s Christmas now?”

“Okay, fine.” Alec shrugs, they all know that she’s been dying to post it since the day she took the photo.

“Wait, I’ll send you the one at the beach during the video shoot too. Post it,” Jace says, “Man, I can’t believe you guys did it.”

Maryse sighs. “We’re all having family dinner tomorrow night and I expect _everyone_ to be there,” she’s on her other phone already. “I’m going to check around. And,” she stares at the screen at Magnus and Alec and then repeats, “I am happy for you both,” with that, she hangs up.

“I need all the details tomorrow, I’m going to post that photo,” Izzy says sternly, then she’s gone too.

Now left alone, Jace is smirking at them. “So, how was it?”

“Are you leaving or not?” Alec rolls his eyes.

“Oh come on,” Jace says. “We can talk about this, I tell you everything about my sex life too, dont I? How was-”

“Bye Chase,” Magnus doesn’t lets him speak and cuts the call for Alec.

Alec lets out a tired exhale as his arm drops down from where he was holding the phone above his face. “Too much for a day in bed, huh?”

Magnus presses a kiss on Alec’s jaw. “I’m sorry, I should’ve paid attention”

Alec shakes his head. Then his arms are coming back to wrap themselves around Magnus’ waist. But, Magnus pulls away and in one swift motion, he’s out of the bed. “Magnus? Come on”

Magnus picks up his robe, which is fallen on the floor beside his bed and wears it, “We have to get ready for the Live. Get up”

Alec groans, flopping down on the bed. “No one cares, they all know that you look beautiful anyways”

Magnus hums with a smile and comes to stand beside Alec, then bends down to press a press of his temple. “Get up,” he whispers and is moving towards the washroom before Alec could grab hold of him again.

He gets a notification when he’s brushing his teeth, a few minutes later. He picks up his phone to see what it is

 **@Izzzylightwood** **tagged you in their post**

He swipes left at the notify to open it when Alec is coming to hug him from behind, arms going around his hips.

“Good morning,” Alec says, nuzzling his nose in Magnus’ hair.

Magus chuckles, his “good morning again, love” comes out muffled because of the toothbrush in his mouth.

“Did Izzy post it?” Alec asks, looking from over Magnus’ shoulder. Magnus nods, opening the post. They both instantly smile in sync when they see it.

 **@Izzzylightwood** Thanks for 5M views on ‘Monochromatic’ in just 4 days!!! Have some cozy photos of these two to celebrate #theyalwayshogthecouchlikethat #jacetookthesecondpicture #andthrewacoconutatthemrightafter

**@thebestblondelightwood** Threw the coconut as I should’ve #leaveroomforjesus 

The first picture is them on the couch, asleep. Magnus is sleeping on top of Alec, head buried in Alec’s chest as Alec holds him tight, as if trying to protect him from the cold. They are nuzzled together perfectly on the small couch. They fit like two pieces of a puzzle together. 

The second picture is the two of them on the beach where they shot the music video. It looks like the camera is being set up while they stand in the corner. Magnus has one of his arms around Alec and is looking up at him with his nose scrunched, while Alec, whose eyes are the definition of ‘heart eyes’ is looking down at Magnus as he holds up an umbrella to protect them from the bright sun. They remember a coconut being thrown directly at them a few seconds later with Jace shouting a “ _positions, lover boys!_ ”

“What do the people on your fake account have to say about this?” Alec asks as he unwraps himself from Magnus and stands beside him to brush his teeth himself.

“Haven’t checked yet,” Magnus replies, slowly dragging his toothbrush on his teeth as he opens his twitter again. Alec tries to peak in and see what’s going on but then backs out when he reads the bio name of the first tweet. _Fans are weird_.

**Alec marry me challenge || Magnus’ claimed hickies @Registiel**

The hashtag. The one that Jace used in the comments IMMA CRY. they’re making it officiallll fuck this

**Ethan cries @magnusseyeliner**

@Registiel watch me have a breakdown

**Drula is spamming Magnus || Malec coming out party! @misskeshaaa**

Itshappeningitshappeningitshappeningitshappeningitshappeningitshappe…

**Malec leave room for jesus @gaiayay**

@misskeshaaa HIA ARE YOU OKAY?

**Drula is spamming Magnus || Malec coming out party! @misskeshaaa**

**@** gaiayay WHAT DO YOU THINK? THEY ARE ALL MAKING IT OFFICIAL-

**Mimi @mimislove**

Deactivating until one of these two come up and exclusively clear up shit. I can’t clown anymore. Self care!

**Allie || she/her @Malecskiddo**

I’m a whore for Izzy but I swear if she’s fucking with us at this point of time I will quit. The fucking “#theyalwayshogthecouchlikethat “ 

“They’re freaking out,” Magnus tells Alec, who laughs, as he keeps his phone down and washes his mouth.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Magnus asks Alec for the last time, his finger hovering above the ‘Go Live’ button. 

Alec places his hand on Magnus’ thigh and nods. “Are you?”

Magnus smiles. Leans in to give him a last peck on the lips before tapping on the button and sitting back again. They are on their living room couch again, right besides each other. Alec’s wearing his hoodie that covers his neck, for obvious reasons. While Magnus wears a top that says “Blink if you want me” beneath which, he’s wearing one of Alec’s sweatpants. But the ones watching the Live don’t have to know that.

“Hello, Is anyone here?” There are about 5,000 people already and it’s just been a few seconds, the viewer count is just getting started. “Hello. Hey Reggie!” Magnus waves as he recognises the ‘registiel’ guy from Twitter and Alec repeats after him, because he has heard from Magnus about him (He’s sure the guy is going to go crazy.). “Hey Allie! Hi Drula, I’m going to answer your question soon. Hey everyone, how’s it going?”

“There are a lot of you guys,” Alec says, raising his eyebrows at the viewer count and the way the comments just keep rushing in, they are barely even getting the chance to read them. Though almost all of them are asking about Izzy's post, or the Magnus’ story, or the way Alec is wearing his hoodie.

“Okay so,” Magnus leans back against the couch, “we dropped by to,” he glances at Alec, “to thank you guys for 5 Million views of Monochromatic on Youtube and almost 2 Millions streams on Spotify in just 4 days”

“It’s crazy,” Alec says. 

“It honestly is,” Magnus replies. “You guys are crazy for this,” he looks at the camera and Alec chuckles.

“Yeah and I didn't say this before, because _someone_ went Live without me,” Alec pointedly eyes Magnus, who rolls his eyes, “But I have been reading your tweets and your comments and I want to thank you all for the love and support… wow there are a _lot_ of you here”

He’s getting a little nervous, Magnus knows, so places a hand on Alec’s hand under the sight of the camera. It’s usually how Alec is, even before their stage performances, he gets nervous. No matter how phenomenal he performs later on. It’s a trait that makes Alec- _Alec_.

“What else did we want to talk about?” Magnus asks Alec, he’s stalling. “Right, the QnA”

Alec is trying to stifle a chuckle as Magnus starts to talk about how the video is going to be late. Magnus is good at changing topics and at beating around the bush. And while Magnus is talking, Alec can see frustrated comments and their viewer count dropping. In a few minutes Magnus has somehow got to bts from the music video again and is scrolling through his gallery while Alec is just nodding or adding a few things. They themselves can feel the anticipation in the air.

“Alexander?” Magnus says as he shows Alec a picture, the one he was just showing the camera. “Does this make me a man at the shore?” a picture of him standing near the waves of the beach under the rainbow.

Alec stares at the phone screen with a sly smile on his face. He hums, “Well,” he says, looking back up in Magnus’ eyes, “It kind of makes you _the_ man at the shore, doesn’t it?”

They can feel the viewer count go up again and the pace of the comments increase. Magnus is trying to keep a straight face, “Interesting,” he replies, and he’s leaning nearer to Alec.

“Mhm,” Alec hums again, and then notices a question in Magnus’ eyes and his face comes closer to Alec’s.

Alec nods.

When Magnus presses their lips together, at the corner of their eyes they can see the comments go haywire.

**@Claryfraydraws** Alec Lightwood I'm coming to yours right at this moment.

 **@Simonscomics** Guys??? Why didn't I know about this??? I thought we were friends???


End file.
